By Michael Whitmarsh, ex-Head of Technology at
Bolton School and Director of the Millennium Ketch
project.
The philosophy and funding of a large scale project may well
start with a single idea in the head of a member of staff, but it
has to involve a large number of people for it to culminate in a
successful outcome. Firstly there is the concept which has to meet
the needs of the school, secondly there has to be a structure in
place to fund the project successfully, and finally the execution
of the project has to be in line with the planning or the whole
project will fail.
The concept for the third millennium ketch was to construct a
usable offshore sail training vessel within the school curriculum,
to give the pupils a completely different experience within their
technology curriculum. Individual projects have always played a
part in good educational systems and it has been well proven that
large scale projects add a completely new dimension to that same
system. Much like a team game develops a sense of belonging and
community, a large project bonds people together and also enables
pupils to work outside of their normal limitations. Much emphasis
is placed on examination systems in education but what is it all
for if not to improve and expand the knowledge and understanding of
the world around young people. Sailing has for generations held its
place in educating the whole child, and it will always be a means
to developing self confidence and reliance upon others. The sea is
in our blood as a nation and the fact that you live miles from the
sea has never stopped anyone gaining from the excitement and
experience of an adventure when eventually they have taken that
step to go to sea.
I had no doubt of the value a sail training vessel would bring
to the school. I also had no doubt that the process of building
would also bring a great deal of value to the curriculum in itself.
It would have been inconceivable to consider buying a sail training
vessel in the years approaching the millennium, as the school at
that time was dedicated to raising sponsorship for the bursary
scheme following the loss of the assisted places scheme in the 80s.
The prospect of building a boat over a long period of time, which
would be inevitable by the scale of the project, gave the
opportunity to find funding from completely different sources
without encroaching on the area of the bursary funding. It was with
this understanding that I was given the go ahead by the headmaster
and governors to seek means of funding for the project. If I was
successful it would be only then that I would be given the go ahead
to proceed with the project.
The obvious large scale funding at that time was of course the
lottery. I had this dream that they would snatch my hand off to
sponsor such a worthwhile project, particularly as it was school
based and would offer sailing opportunities for many years to come
to pupils far and wide. One telephone call soon made me realise the
difficulties of funding anything to do with an independent school,
seen by many as the privileged elite who had all the money they
needed to spend on a small percentage of the population. More phone
calls to large funding bodies brought similar rejections and always
accompanied by good wishes for success with the project. It was
time to rethink my approach. I knew I could build the basic
structure of the hull within the materials budget of the department
as a ferro cement hull of 48ft could be constructed for less than
£5000 in steel bar and mesh. Spread over three years this seemed
more than possible. It would be the engine, rig and fittings that
would be the most expensive part of the project. The fitting out of
the hull could be completed with the supply of oak timber we
already had in school but the systems would all have to be funded
externally.
Our first stroke of luck came when I approached a governor who
was a director of a structural engineering group. Her company very
kindly donated a building framework for a five year period which
provided the space in which to complete the project. Her offer
included the erection of the building alongside our workshops and
the removal of the building at the end of the project. I had
already made a contact at my local sailing club - an ex parent who
offered to draw up a suitable yacht design on computer and to let
the school have the drawings free of charge and free from
copyright. He had been an engineering designer all his life and
mentioned a number of local firms who had contacts with the school
mainly through sending their children to Bolton School. Since I had
been Head of Technology, I had always kept a database of where
Technology pupils went to university and their subsequent careers
in the technology field. Perhaps I could twist a few arms to help
the project get off the ground. It did not take long to restore my
long lasting belief in the good will of most human beings. I soon
had a core of people willing to undertake the manufacture of items
we could not produce in school, even with our excellent Technology
facilities. Further phone calls to old boys, parents, governors and
friends of the school brought a huge response in support in so many
ways. What was important was to make a personal contact and to talk
the project through before asking how a contact may be able to
help.
There emerged a pattern to the support and it was the overall
combination that made the project viable. The key to it seemed to
be not to ask for money but to elicit ways that a variety of people
could help. Manufacture of specific items when a company had a
quiet period, technical advice over the telephone, training
opportunity for an apprentice to work on an aspect of the
construction, and volunteer labour, either skilled or unskilled,
were the most common ways help was enlisted. Most companies
contacted when we needed to purchase items such as resins, standard
fittings and general boat chandlery, agreed to give us trade
accounts or better. One governor, whose company supplied paint to
the Admiralty, kindly covered the cost of the coating systems
personally. A parent who was the head researcher at the Ferro
Cement Research Establishment of a local university offered his
services free on a consultancy basis, and also later carried out
the official structural analysis tests for the surveyor to ensure
the vessel complied with regulations. Without the surveyors
approval we would not be able to operate as a commercial sailing
vessel. Other contacts donated materials which we could use
in the construction and a local firm donated the services of eight
plasterers and fifteen labourers for a day, together with a site
foreman to oversee the plastering of the armature. This was again
through a parent of a pupil following technology to A Level before
going to university to study mechanical engineering.
In the early stages of the design we hit a problem with the
Lloyds Regulations having to submit specific data on the design as
the yacht was not a current production boat. After spending many
long nights trying to extract the figures from the computer design
I enlisted the help of a former technology pupil who was still at
Southampton University studying Yacht Design and Management. He,
with the help of his tutor, completed the task in a fraction of the
time it would have taken our team, providing vital construction
details for the Yacht Design and Surveyors Association.
One key issue to the yacht was the choice of engine. We were
determined to use a current production design engine which would
always have spares available throughout the world. Our first choice
was Volvo who complimented us on the project but turned us down due
to their impending sponsorship of the Volvo Round the World Ocean
Race. Perkins Sabre took a very different line and could not have
been more helpful. They instantly donated us a bench tested engine
used for the British Steel Round the World Challenge Yachts which
Chay Blyth had set up. This was a tremendous offer to include a
less than cost price engine and free technical advice. A parent
contact then came up with the spares through the parent company of
Caterpillar who had taken over Perkins Sabre. Sabre themselves
presented us with a box of cooling system spares at the London Boat
show.
Within a year I had managed to generate a great deal of
enthusiasm for the project and more importantly the basic funding
for the majority of the project at minimal cost to the school. We
knew we would have to put money into the finishing stages but we
had a number of years to source that funding. The governing body of
the school agreed to help after we put forward a basic business
plan for the building and running of the vessel. The expense would
come in the final stages of the construction as we were building
her to comply with shipping regulations to operate as a commercial
vessel. Once complete she would easily earn her keep and, if
required, operate as a source of income for the school if operated
fully commercially. She would be the equivalent of a £450,000 yacht
for a build cost of around £50,000.
On the one hand we wanted her to be there for the pupils of the
school, both present and past, as much as possible but at the same
time realised that she would have to earn more than her annual
running costs of £10,000. Each week she would be sailing with a
full complement she could earn £2,000 clear with a break even point
of only half the berths full. This meant she could operate
without being a drain on the resources of the school. We would be
the only school in the country, other than Gordonstoun, running
such a vessel. The design was created so that she could work all
year round anywhere in the world yet we would keep her local to the
school in the early years to maximise pupil contact and to build up
staff experience. This in itself would limit the earning
possibilities as it was always hoped to give the maximum number of
pupils the experience of sailing offshore at an appropriate
cost.
We are now approaching the end of our first full season, and are
already planning the winter maintenance in readiness for next year.
In this first season she has sailed over 2000nm in the Irish Sea
taking pupils from the age of 12 to 18 to Ireland, Isle of Man,
Scotland and the North West Coast of England in all weathers. It is
difficult to comprehend, when you see her sailing out of Glasson
Dock, that we actually built her in school with pupils in
Technology lessons, aided immensely by the volunteer parents, staff
and friends of the school over a period of nine years. The
experience of the project created opportunities for pupils, way
beyond the normal curriculum of the school. Manufacturing a hull,
cabins, fittings, systems and components gave a different dimension
to Technology lessons where students could deal with problems and
calculations in a real life situation, in the full knowledge that
they were creating something which would benefit themselves and
many others in the years ahead. It is very difficult to find a
project which can offer so much to a school both in the
construction and the sail training side of the venture.
There is no doubt that none of this would have taken place
without the support and effort of so many people. From the
volunteers to the donations of parts, advice, cheap deals and
genuine enthusiasm we can only be eternally grateful as a school.
One only has to read the letters from the parents of the 12 year
old sailors to realise just what we have given these children.
After a week sailing offshore, young lives are often changed
forever. It is thanks to the vision of an exceptional Headmaster
and the support of so many local businesses, and friends and family
of the school, that Tenacity of Bolton will be taking Bolton School
pupils and other children from the region on leadership and
sail training courses for many years to come